^B{^#!16!22 December^N! Feast day of St Flavian of Tuscany, St Zeno, St Chaeremon and Others, and St Ischyrion.
^B{1715^B} James Stuart, the 'Old Pretender', landed at Petershead after his exile in France. ^B{1864^B} The Geneva Convention was originated. ^B{1894^B} Alfred Dreyfus, the French officer who was falsely convicted for selling military secrets, was sent to Devil's Island. 1895^B} German physicist Wilhelm R÷ntgen made the first X-ray, of his wife's hand. ^B{1945^B} The US recognized Josip Tito's government in Yugoslavia. ^B{1961^B} James Davis became the first US soldier to die in Vietnam, while US involvement was still limited to the provision of military advisers. ^B{1989^B} Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausτescu was overthrown in a bloody revolutionary coup. ^B{1991^B} Eleven of the 12 Soviet republics (excluding Georgia) agreed, in Alma Ata, Kazakhstan, on the creation of a Commonwealth of Independent States.
^B{^I{^#!14!Born ^N}John Crome, English painter, ^B{1768^B}; John Nevil Maskelyne, English stage magician, ^B{1839^B}; Giacomo Puccini, Italian composer, ^B{1858^B}; Peggy Ashcroft, English actress, ^B{1907^B}; Noel Edmonds, English TV presenter, ^B{1948^B}; Maurice and Robin Gibb, Australian pop musicians, ^B{1949^B}.^B}
^B{^I{^#!14!Died ^N}George Eliot, English novelist, ^B{1880^B}; Beatrix Potter, English author and artist, ^B{1943^B}; Harry Langdon, US silent film comedian, ^B{1944^B}; Richard Dimbleby, British broadcaster, ^B{1965^B}; Samuel Beckett, Irish author and dramatist, ^B{1989^B}.
